| By Fred Topel
In Theaters May 6
|
Wanna see something different? Think you know your movie stars? Well, check out Crash and see things like American Sweetheart Sandra Bullock as a foul-mouthed racist. See ‘80s idol and comedy dufus Matt Dillon as a hardcore racist cop. See glamour icon Thandie Newton in a world where beauty doesn’t matter and all assumptions are challenged.
Those are just some of the elements at work in Crash, an ensemble drama where several plot threads are connected by overtones of racism. The Dillon/Newton subplot is just one element, but plays out in an unexpected way. First, Dillon’s character pulls over Newton’s car, and when she mouths off about the racial profiling, he frisks her in a molesting way.
“I was hoping that when I knew Thandie Newton was doing the movie, I said, ‘Oh wow, we’re going to get to do a love scene together,’” Dillon joked. “Really, Thandie was so nice and cool. There was a sense of trust that she had with me and that I had with Paul [Haggis, the director]. There had to be that.”
Shooting a harrowing scene like the pullover molestation was a delicate matter. “With something like this, it’s such sensitive material and obviously has to be dealt with such sensitivity,” Newton said. “It was important that Matt and I got along as people and had a very clear understanding of the importance of this scene on the story. With a script like this, the story is what’s important. There was no ego, no role was more important than the other. We all had an objective was to get this story right. We were basically very open and keen to let Paul guide us.”
Of course, a movie like Crash doesn’t just molest its characters and leave them hanging. Dillon and Newton’s first encounter pays off in a resolution so surprising, the actors would not give it away. Still, Newton did say that it was that resolution that got her through the frisking scene.
“What made us able to do that was where it was going to end up,” she said. “We knew what the resolution would be. We knew these characters were going to be able to explore this very dilemma. It’s a truthful scene but if it was left like that, it would have been very difficult to address in any way. So we as actors knew where it was going.”
One of the film’s recurring themes is that the spread out nature of Los Angeles cultivates racism more than cities where different people are forced together. Neither Dillon nor Newton make L.A. their home. She lives in London and Dillon is a New York native.
“My view of LA is that Dorothy Parker quote,” said Dillon. “’There is no there there.’ I think she was actually talking about Oakland but it’s attributable to LA in a way because it’s so spread out that it doesn’t have a center like most cities. There’s a sense of segregation here. It is a melting pot but it’s spread out. It’s not like New York or Chicago or London where people are more integrated somehow. It really is designed for LA, the story. I think the circumstances of most of the characters in the film are universal in a way, people making sweeping judgments about others and conflicts between relationships with characters like Thandie and Howard’s character but that’s universal. But there’s something about this story that makes particular sense for LA. The fact that people are isolated from each, it breeds fear and ignorance in a certain way, certainly for my character.”
Newton added, “As a result there’s potential for much more extreme behavior because of that spread out, segregated, geography of the place.”
So, everything is fine in New York and London, right? “Certainly not,” said Newton. “But it’s a particular kind of problem here though. I think it’s interesting that people have to get in their car and drive long distances to get anywhere. That’s why ‘Crash’ is such a great metaphor for this film in a way because literally behind the wheel of the car… Don Cheadle says at the beginning of the movie you have to literally crash into each other to feel something.”
Crash is a low budget indie film and both Dillon and Newton have frequented the big studio blockbuster circuit. For them, it is not a matter of “slumming it” but rather finding the opportunity to lend support to a project that needs them more than they need a paycheck.
“It’s so rare though to read a script like this,” said Newton. “Talk about thre dimensional characters, these are five dimensional characters. But also there’s real punchy energy. The layout, the way the movie’s put together, the way the characters interweave, the situations are so dramatic, all the contradictions, all the twists and turns – it’s hugely entertaining and satisfying. The audience isn’t just sitting back and letting it happen. You have to participate and apparently we’ve been hearing that people shout out at the screen. That’s a good feeling. It was very apparent from reading the script that this film could be really special, really exciting. It’s rare to be so moved by something. Yeah, obviously, it’s nice to be paid for your work but at the same time, there’s that sacrifice that you really want to make when it’s worth it.”
Dillon added, “I look for really great characters, really good characters. I say great because as long as they’re really good, there’s something you can do. And really good storytelling. And this thing, when people ask me what the story is, I say it’s really several stories really. They’re intermeshed. I look at the storytelling. I feel like filmmakers, as actors, the first purpose for making a film is that it’s entertaining and engaging and I felt this script was that. I also felt there was a deeper reason for this film to be made. You can’t ask for more than that. This film had all those elements, deep characters and yet most of the characters don’t have more than five or six scenes in the film and yet there are these incredible arch for most of these characters. That’s a tribute to really good writing.”
Crash opens Friday, May 6. |
